Pixiq

Basic Skills for the Education of a Photographic Master

 ©2010 George DeWolfe

Rationale

 Behind all great two-dimensional artists exists a sound background of basic skills comprising two major disciplines: Craft and Vision. An ordinary artist or photographer can be accomplished in one or the other, but to become a master of the art requires both.

Most, if not all, teaching facilities in the United States firmly foster technical education. A technical education in art or photography does not necessarily encompass craft in the strictest sense, for craft implies applied aesthetic ideas implemented by technical solutions. Other art departments in universities and museum schools stress cultural, gender, and race issues as an ideological and conceptual starting place from which to create images, but this “political” stance discomfits the main priorities of the age-old practice of any art - respect for the individual and the mastery of one’s authentic vision and the mastery of one’s craft.

This paper outlines a basic course of instruction for the proper learning and application of the craft and vision of photography.

Craft

Craft is a careful blend of aesthetic idea carried out by a technical solution.  It requires knowledge of one’s tools and how to use them intuitively. It requires an aesthetic knowledge of the history of both painting and photography. It requires a basic skill set of technical information that is neither too broad nor too deep for digital photography, but enough so that intuitive access is gained by a few well chosen tools and processes. Craft in art is also a process of developing a personal workflow for creative ideas, a conduit that allows inconspicuous and fuzzy ideas to surface and become real.

 Vision

Learning to see and achieving an authentic vision is the ultimate goal of all master image makers. It is accomplished through the learning of basic perceptual skills from the human brain as they are applied to art and photography. It is fostered by seeking a wholeness is one’s life and one’s art and in learning and practicing the qualities that comprise a masterpiece. It requires the synthesis of the components of a truly authentic life and authentic response to the world.

The Basic Skill Set

The Intuitive Camera

Perceptual Skills with Drawing

Looking at Masterpieces

The Development of Photographic Ideas

Basic Intuition Skills

The Intuitive Camera

The intuitive camera stresses an optimum simple workflow from the camera to the finished print. This segment focuses on taking optimum images with a digital camera and printing them straight from a small inkjet printer without the interface of a computer. This teaches basic camera operation and how that operation impacts the print purely. The goal of this segment is for students to produce optimum quality prints on a consistent basis with ease, thus depending upon the operation of the camera exposure, contrast, etc. to effect the outcome, and not manipulation in a computer.

Perceptual Skills with Drawing

Developed by Betty Edwards at California State University this methodology teaches basic perceptual skills that will be carried over into photography in the second tier of master development. It is simply the best way of doing this on the planet.

Looking at Masterpieces

My question has always been, “Why waste your time looking at nothing but the best?” This rationale goes against the current caché of “let everyone be mediocre.” By simply looking at both masterpieces from painting and photography much can be learned of how a master artist achieved their acts of magnificence.

The Development of Photographic Ideas

Basically a short course on where ideas come from and how to implement them.

Basic Intuition Skills

Long overlooked as a necessary skill for successful art of any kind, this segment introduces students to the learning and application of the skills of intuition. We’ll draw not only from the lives of the masters, but also from current contemporary practice of intuition.

I will expand on these skills in coming articles.